Process of treating wood.



EET

N WOOD. R. 29, 1913.

W. W. NORMA PROCESS OF TREAT] G APPLICATION FILED MA PatentedJ u 3 SHEETS w. w. NORMAN.

PROCESS OF TREATING woon.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, I913.

9 1 4 1 Q o Patented J 11116 8, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES W. NORMAN.

PROCESS OF TREATING WOOD.

APPLICATION FILED .MAR.29. I913.

Patented June 8, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

v I 'INVENTOR flfiallill IIIIIIIII 1 HHlIlllllllllllH'" I II IIIIIII-I ll lHlllHllllI 'WITNESSES WILLIAM W. NORMAN, OF HUNTERVILLE, MISSOURI.

PROCESS or TREATING wool).

Specification of Letters Patentd Application filed March 29,1913. Serial No. 757,669.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. NORMAN, a citizen of the United States residing at Hunterville, in the county of S toddard and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Treating IVood, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the method of impregnating wood with chemical or coloring matter, and the object is to provide means for preventingthe coloring matter or preservative from entering the log around the heart zone, and to cause the material to be introduced only through the sap zone of the log. If the fluid is allowed.

to enter the log at the center, or heart, the fluid is entirely .lost, because it will not be retained, and will be discharged from the log through the heart cracks. There are generally small cracks around the heart 'of the log, and as the heartzone is not porousthat is, there are no pores, so that the fluid can be carried the length of the log the fluid will not be retained by the log around the heart, and therefore all fluid that is introduced around the heart zone is lost. The air entering the heart, or around the heart zone, at a high pressure often splits the log asunder, and-as it is necessary to use high pressure to remove the sap, I have provided means for preventing the air from entering the heart zone.

Therefore, it is the purpose of this invention to provide means for inclosing the heart zone, and to treat only the sap portion of the log.

The sap is first removed from the pores of the log by introducing hotor cold compressed air, preferably, and after the sap has been removed, the coloring fluid is introduced under pressure.

The invention consists of certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the apparatus as applied to a log; Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of one of the gripping heads; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed sectional view through one ofthe knives and gripping heads, showing the manner of mounting the knife upon the gripping head;

Figs. 4 and 5 are viewsin front elevation of two forms of multi-coloring gripping heads; and Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a gripping head of another form.

In Fig. 1, I have shown two gripping heads A applied to a log, one gripping head at each end. On logs where particular and thorough coloring is desired, I find it ad- Patented June 8, 1915.

visable to use two gripping heads, but on logs which are principally used for the purpose of ties, and piling, Ican use one gripping head with very satisfactory results.

Located at the center of the gripping head is a guide block 1, which is provided with a sharpened pin 2. This pin 2 is adapted to enterthe center of the log.

In the form of gripping head shown in Figs. 1 and-2, I have disclosed annular con-. centric grooves 33, in which flanges 4 and 5 are received. These flanges 4 and 5 are provided with knife edges so that they can be forced into the end'of the log a sufficient distance for causing the gripping head to .be securely held to the log, the space between the flanges forming the fluid chamber C.

The innermost flange 5 is located around the guide block 1 and in the groove 3, while the outermost flange 4 is located in any desired groove to engage the outer edge of the log. The flanges 4 are made in various sizes to fit the various grooves 3, so that a difl'erent-sized log can be treated with the same gripping head. Located in these grooves or recessesis a suitable packing 6, so that when the knives or flanges are forced into the log, an airand water-tight connection will be formed between the head and knives.

Openings or ports 7 are formed in the gripping head, and extend through the gripping head between the grooves 3, and just outside of the outer surface of the flange 5. Connected to these openings are pipes 8, which act as supply and vent pipes. These pipes 8. are provided with valves 8 so that any one of the pipes 8 can be used independently of the others. A supply pipe 9 is connected to the pipes 8 and is provided with a closed when the drain pipe is not in use to permit of the-introduction of the air or fluid to the pipes 8 through the pipe 9.

The head A is provided with a hub 13, in which is formed a ball socket 14.

A shaft is connected to the hub, and is provided With a ball or rounded end 16, which fits within the socket 14.

A bolt 17 passes through the hub and shaft-so that a swivel connection is formed between the hub and shaft, permitting the head to be adjusted to the uneven surface of an end of. a log. This is necessary in many cases, as it is diflicult in cutting timber to have the ends perfectly straight, as they are generally out by hand with a cross-cut saw.

A coiled spring 18 is mounted around the shaft and is so connected to the shaft and one of the clamps 19 that when the pressure is released against the shaft, the spring will cause the head to be withdrawn from the being properly placed, the innermost flange 5 will be placed against the end of the log, and the center obtained, so that afterthe flange has again been. placed in the disk, the head can be guided to insure the guide block being properly centered, and the flange 5 caused to inclose the heart zone or the heart and the red portion of the log. The

guide block also prevents the knives or flanges 4 and 5 from being driven too far into the log, and entirely closing the fluid chamber 0, which is formed between the inner and outer flanges 5 and 4.

Assuming that a gripping head has been placed upon each end of the log, which log is in a green or unseasoned condition, the valve 12 of one of the drain pipes 11 is opened, while at the other end of the log, hot or cold compressed air, as the occasion may require, is introduced through the pipe 9 and pipes 8into the gripping head A and into the chamber C, the compressed air being forced into the chamber under sufficient pressure to cause the air to pass through the pores of the log, forcing the sap from the sap pores and into the chamber C of the gripping head at the opposite end ofthe log, and the sap being discharged from the gripping head through the pipes 8 and drain pipe 11.

previously introduced, causing any sap which may remain in the log to be forced into the opposite end and discharged through the drain pipes 8 of the head, when the log will be in condition for treatment. A pipe20 is conneetedto the pipe 9 for delivering the fluid to the pipes 8, a valve 21 being provided in the pipe whereby the supply of fluid can be cut off. The valve 21 is now opened, admitting the fluid or chemical to be delivered to the pipes 9 and 8, and the compressed air is also admitted to the pipe 9, so that the fluid is introduced under pressure into the fluid chambers C at each end of the log, and. the fluid is caused to be forced into the sap pores of the log, from first one end of the log and then the other, whereby the log will be impregnated with a coloring or. preservative fluid. In the removal of the sap from the pores, the air Will be either hot or cold, as the occasion may require, and the air will be introduced at high pressure for forcing all of the sap possible out of the pores of the log, and in logs of considerable length, it is'neoessary or advisable to have the air introduced from first one end of the log and thenthe other, so that all moisture or sap is caused to be removed from the pores. In logs or timber to be used for veneering purposes, the logs are generally treated with hot air, so that the temperature of the compressed air will heat and dry out the log at the same time that the sap or moisture is being forced from the pores. It has been found that the logs can be treated in this manner, thereby doing away with the necessity of boiling the logs intanks of hot water or steaming them in vats or tunnels, and the expense of the operation is considerably less and the results equally satisfactory. After the logs have been treated in this manner either with hot or cold compressed air, the coloring fluid or fluids-or it may be a preservative fluidis eonducted to the heads under pressure and as shown in this instance the air is adapted to force the fluid into the heads and through the sap pores of the'log, the pressure, however, is materially reduced, as it is desired to introduce the fluid into the log' under enough pressure to cause it to be forced through the i log, and at the same time to be evenly distributed so that all parts of the log will take up the fluid equally. The fluid is introduced from first one end of the log and then the other end, and the vent and drain pipe of the opposite head is opened during the introduction of the fluid into the log.

In the forms shown in Figs. 4 and 5 I have provided means for multi-coloring the log. In Fig. 4 the fluid chamber is divided by a pluralityof radiating flanges, while Fig. 5 discloses concentric flanges, so that the log, when the coloring fluid is introduced, will be formed in concentric circles, and in each of these forms a diflerent-colored fluid can be introduced, so that thelog will have a number of different colors through out.

In Fig.6 I have disclosed the form of head and flanges used for treating ties, the outerflange being arranged preferably in the form of a rectangle.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The herein-described process of'treating Wood, consisting first closing the heart zone of the log to prevent the ingress of fluid thereto and introducing an agent under pressure into the sap portion of the log for the removal of the sap, and injecting a fluid into the sap pores upon the removal of the sap.

2. The herein-described process of treating wood, consisting in first closing the heart zone of the log to prevent the ingress of fluid thereto, and introducing an agent under pressure into the sap portion of a log for removing the sap and injecting a fluid first one end of the log and then the other 4 end, and injecting a fluid into the sap portions of the log upon the removal of the sap first at one end and then at the other endof the log.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W, NORMAN.

Witnesses:

FLoY T. \VYATT, L. E. NoRMA'N. 

